DMBS_LOB/BFILE

I am accessing ascii text OS files via Oracle using the PL/SQL DBMS_LOB calls using the BFILE features. I find that the file contents are returned in hex, returning only 127 characters-worth of file content from the BFILE read.

Questions:

1. What method can be used to convert the hex into ascii characters so the returned info is readable? I have written a function in TCL that converts the hex to ascii, but it is really slow (4+ secs for a 10K file). I would prefer to do this inside the PL/SQL block but cannot find any conversions in SQL or PL/SQL that will work on this. Multi-platform operation is a requirement from one source - so no compiled code.
2. What is allowing only 127 characters to be returned in the raw datatype? The data type must be a raw to read the BFILE contents. The raw datatype has a limit of 4GB. I have a loop which moves the pointer in the BFILE object 127 characters per iteration, reading until the end of the file - rather lame. Other suggestions?

BTW - this is running using TCL V8.0 & 8.1 and Oratcl V2.5 on DEC Unix and NT. Oracle V8.04. The goal is to be able to access files on a server from any other platform using PL/SQL inside of TCL.

Thanks - JohnC Received on Thu Jan 27 2000 - 21:26:28 CST